I feel weird giving advice because even after 32 years of diabetes, I’m still trying to figure things out. A lot of the time, I have “no eyed deer” what I doing. But the main thing that I keep circling back to is the concept of responsibility.

As much as it sucks sometimes, I have to be responsible. Some days that means sitting on the phone for hours trying to get through to my insurer. Other days it means moving finances around in order to make sure we have the bandwidth for my medical necessities. Every day it means taking my insulin, checking my blood sugar and caring about the results. As often as possible, I exercise and try to prioritize healthy foods with fewer carbs to minimize blood sugar spikes. I make myself follow through on doctor appointments and health check ups. … and occasionally, I go off the rails entirely with this whole responsibility thing and have a doughnut and sit on the couch and watch entire seasons of Game of Thrones but I think that comes back to responsibility in a roundabout way because you can’t be game (of thrones) on all the time. Mental health matters and my brain needs breathing room from the constant bitching and moaning from my pancreas.

My advice? Take this thing seriously. Even when it’s hard. Diabetes can be a pain to deal with in some obvious ways, but it can concurrently ruin you with whispers, with signs and symptoms that aren’t readily noticeable until something is very wrong.

It’s much easier to respect the disease in efforts to earn the right to feel “fine.” It’s a weird road to walk, this one with diabetes, but you don’t go it alone. (Need proof? Well, you have me, as evidenced by almost fourteen years of blogging. And if you click on any diabetes hashtag or campaign or Facebook page, etc etc you’ll find 10,000 other people ready to hold your hand and flip the middle finger to your pancreas at a moment’s notice.)

6 Comments

Well said. I stumbled across your blog within the first month of being diagnosed at 31 years old. I was looking for advice and support and found that as well as humor. You helped me cope and accept this new normal. You have “no eyed deer” how thankful I am (along with many others out there) for your support and honesty. 🙂

Just curious, and maybe your mom would be a better one to answer this, but for those of us with littles who are having to be the responsible one, at what age might we expect them to start wanting to be responsible? My daughter just turned eleven, and in May it will be her fifth year living with T1D. Instead of becoming more responsible, she is becoming less responsible. I understand burnout – I’m there too! But as she spends more time away from me and in situations where she must take responsibility, missed boluses or incomplete boluses and complete disregard for Dexcom alarms have been the result. Any reminding from me results in red laser eyes aimed my way and/or angry venomous word bombs thrown my way for daring to speak of anything T1D related. I see rising A1C’s and Dexcom graphs off the charts and I can only fear the future for her. Please give me hope that she will start to care before I lose any more hair from worry. Thanks for all you do, Kerri! I hope she grows up to be the responsible advocate that you are.

Very good, encouraging read. When I had been diagnosed with T1D all of four days, my first endo said it was ok for me to say that diabetes “already sucked.” Thus, your “sucky” second paragraph (LOL!) more than resonates with me. Thanks for a good post—I look forward to further reads.

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NONE of the information on this site is medical advice. None. If you are thinking about making changes in your diabetes care, talk with your doctor. Don’t take advice from people on the Internet as “medical advice.” I am not a doctor. I can’t even drive stick.